I'm relatively new to tai chi. My teacher tells me I need to relax my mind as I'm too stiff when I practice. How does one accomplish this? With so many aspects to think about (center clear, upper and lower match, etc.) I find it hard to relax. Or maybe I don't understand what he means. Anybody out there that can help?

I have been considering your plight and can relate to the feeling of being stuck in between having to focus on all the details and having to relax simultaneously. I am still working on it, and expect to be doing so for quite some time.

I could give you many details on that subject but am afraid I will only lengthen your list of "things to do" and complicate matters further.

One key element I have found very instrumental for me, personally, is relaxing the forehead...release the brow.

But there are many details to learn in the pursuit of "relaxing" in Taijiquan...

The shoulders are important towards relaxation...many people tend to hold alot of tension in their shoulders.

Try to consciously relax...We sometimes carry alot of built up tension around with us that we are not even aware of.

I think you can only really renounce to "thinking" about the details(such as form sequence, straight knees, no over-extensions, etc), once you've integrated them into your form and they become second nature, then you will do them automatically, without "thought"...which will then allow you to "focus" on something else...it really is a process...

For certain people, it serves to visualise of a serene, unwinding scene, (Imagine, as vividly as you can, that you are on a tropical relax spot, inclining back amenably; you thrive, as the sun warms you, and a sensitive breeze touches your skin gently, inhaling the tangy, sea scented, salt laden spread from the sparkling, translucent, water waves, pummeling on the white, coral shore sand, and feeling the smoking sand slip through your fingers in one hand, inspecting your above all dearest drink with the other; in the meantime, the seagulls call, swoop and cavort vigorously overhead in a cloudless, purplish blue sky: you feel much the same as one of them, permitted to fly and cartwheel, or just skim in the soaked, incredible air, and that this moment will continue going forever .